LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A former Kentucky nurse has been indicted for murder in the death of an elderly patient at a Lexington hospital.
Court records show Eyvette Hunter, 52, is accused of "unlawfully causing the death of James Morris by intentional medical maltreatment."
Lexington Police said Morris was a 97-year-old patient at Baptist Health Lexington, when he died on May 5. Police said he died because of alleged actions by Hunter on April 30.
LEX 18 reports that officials with Baptist Health said Hunter has not worked at the hospital since April 30. An order of immediate temporary suspension was filed against Hunter by the Kentucky Board of Nursing on Monday.
The order states that the patient, now identified by police as Morris, was in the hospital for a "slip and fall injury." On April 30 a nurse told Hunter that Morris had been restless most of the previous night.
After Morris became "agitated and aggressive," Hunter got restraints and asked the on-duty physician and a nurse practitioner for a medication order. Both denied the request. The suspension order said Hunter later gave Morris a drug intravenously. When asked what it was, she said "something special."
Within 30 minutes, another registered nurse said Morris was having trouble breathing. The RN told the charge nurse that the patient had been given something intravenously that was "causing his decline." While treating Morris, a respiratory therapist found a substance thought to be food.
"X-rays would show that the aspiration from the substances ingested by the patient while in his condition caused the patient to develop aspirational pneumonia," according to the order.
A few hours after the patient started having problems, he was given medication to reverse the effects of Ativan, or lorazepam, and immediately became alert, according to the order. The order said Hunter never called for rapid response or acted with a sense of urgency. It also states she changed paperwork to show she had not administered Ativan to Morris.
Morris continued to decline and died on May 5.
Hunter admitted in a written response to the board of nursing on August 5 that she administered lorazepam to the patient without an order, and then gave him food, according to the order.
A statement from Baptist Health said, "The hospital has fully cooperated with the police investigation. Patient care and safety are always our top priorities. Out of respect for the family and because this is a criminal matter, we are not able to talk about the investigation."
Hunter was indicted on a murder charge Monday in Fayette County Circuit Court. She was arrested and bond set at $100,000, according to court records.
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